Waste Not, Want Not: Part II

I had (and still have) quite a bit of chambray left over from the skirt I made, so I made this tunic-y shirt. I used this pattern (which I highly recommend for a beginning sewer) with some slight variation and an easy flower detail-of course. :)

Waste Not, Want Not

Last week I made this skirt out of a bed sheet. (You'll notice the bottom hem is the top part of the sheet that you normally fold down.) I had been wanting to make a few things out of chambray and just hadn't made it to fabric store. I opened the linen closet and had an epiphany! The fitted sheet from the set was nearly worn to shreds but the flat sheet still looked great and was just the type/color of chambray I had been wanting to buy. I used a pattern I bought a couple of years ago (New Look #6594 , if you're interested.) with just a few modifications. Since the sheet is king size, I still have quite a bit of fabric leftover so I'm thinking a sun dress or a tunic top might be next on my list.

(P.S. I got the cute yellow sandals at Wal-mart! Only $10 and they have them in every fun color under the sun- hot pink, orange, lime green, metallic...)

Thrift Store Revival - Men's Shirt

My apologies for the cruddy before and after pictures. The before picture has some major white balance and exposure problems so it doesn't look like the same shirt but I promise it is. If you are interested, scroll down for the how-to.

Thrift Revival Q & A

When it comes to reviving old clothing, several people have asked me the same two questions:

1. "How do you do it?"
I usually take the garment apart, and then sew it back together, making a few adjustments along the way. Hopefully the photo tutorial below will give you a better idea of what goes on during the transformation. However, if you really want to get into sewing, I suggest buying a simple pattern of something you would like to make. (SIMPLE is key word here.) Also, be sure to buy cheap fabric, have really low expectations of how it will turn out and take your time making it. The first and only pattern I have ever bought (and highly recommend) was this one. A Simplicity "Built By Wendy" shirt and dress pattern. With it, I made the shirt I blogged about here. By using a pattern, you will get used to how the various fabric pieces fit together to make the final garment. You will also familiarize yourself with some different sewing techniques.

2. "What do you look for?"

This is tough to answer because when I go to the thrift store, I am typically not looking for anything in particular. Most of the time things just jump out at me. I would say look for things in colors and fabrics you like. (Note: stretchy fabrics are easier to work with.)
With the men's shirts, I look for large sizes (XL or XXL) in softer cottons and solid colors (a budweiser logo in the middle of the shirt doesn't do much for me). The bigger the shirt, the more material you will have to work with. I have found that sewing, in general, always takes more fabric than you think you will need. Extra fabric is also useful for any embellishments you want to add, like a ruffle, a bow or a fabric flower.
When you are looking for dresses to revive, once again look for patterns, colors and fabrics you like and are flattering on you. Then envision the dress in a smaller size, with shorter sleeves and a shorter hem, perhaps. If you like what you see then go for it! For dresses, I usally always have a basic idea of what I'm going to do to change the dress before I buy it. You can always change your mind and fine tune it as you go along but a basic idea is helpful. The best thing about sewing projects from the thrift store is the cost! If it doesn't work out, you're only out $3 and a few hours of your time.

Thrift Store Revival

This is technically another Urban Renewal post but I think the title "Thrift Store Revival" more accurately captures the essence of what I am doing- which is, reviving ugly, over-sized clothes from the thrift store. You know, bringing them back from the dead and turning them into fashionable/wearable attire.

This project took a few hours longer than my first dress because the fabric wasn't stretchy which made it harder to work with. Also, don't look too close because, as I've said before, I'm a pretty mediocre seamstress and there are several things I would do differently if I had to do it all over again. With that said, I'm still pretty pleased with the results and I'm thinking it is going to be really hard for me to pay more than $3 for a dress ever again.

Before: A $3 navy blue polka dot polyester dress, complete with shoulder pads.
After: The same dress (sans the shoulder pads) with shorter puffed sleeves, a hem that hits just below the knee and a slightly lower neck line accented with a little tie. I topped it off with a pretty yellow flower belt I found on sale at J.Crew.

A New Year, A New Quilt

One of my goals for the New Year is to make a throw quilt for Jared and I's bed. I purchased a variety pack of fabric squares pre-cut on e-bay (which is awesome because cutting the fabric is my least favorite part of quilting.) The squares are various prints from Amy Butler's Lotus collection. I'm planning to cut natural muslin squares to go in between so it should be pretty simple. What are some of your resolutions/goals for the New Year?

Urban Renewal How-To

Several people have asked me how I went about reviving the ugly thrift store dress. If you are interested in the boring sewing details, please read on. But note, I am in no way-not even close- to being a good sewer. I usually just sort of wing it so hopefully this makes sense. Also if the term "right sides together" makes you want to beat your head against a wall, this post might not be for you. I'm just saying.

1. Before I cut or sewed anything I had a good idea of what I wanted the dress to look like. I gleaned my inspiration from a couple of dresses I've had my eye on recently. (Found here and here.) Inspiration = A good thing.

(FYI: The ugly dress I bought was made of a soft, tight knit sweater material with a little bit of stretch. The stretch is important because without it I might have had to add a zipper or something crazy like that. So, if you are considering doing this, I suggest finding something with a little stretch. It is very forgiving to sewing novices like myself.)

2. I started by cutting the dress at the empire seam so the dress was in two pieces. I started working with the top piece first. To make it more fitted, I added just a little runching under the bust. To do this, I set my machine to the longest straight stitch setting and without back-stitching, I sewed along the bottom of the piece, just above the old empire seam. I believe the technical term for this is "baste stitch." I pulled the loose thread ends to gather the fabric until I achieved my desired amount of runching. (By the way, is runching a real word?)

3. The runching made the top a little more fitted but not quite enough. So next, while wearing the top piece inside out, I pinched the extra fabric at the side seams and down the sleeves and pinned it so I had a rough idea of how much I needed to take off. (I didn't take any pictures during the process but the picture below illustrates what I'm trying to say.) I recommend taking off less than you think and trying on the garment again. You can always take off more, but it's a pain to rip out seams to add more.

4. Once the top was fitted, I decided to make the middle waist band. I made this by cuting off about six inches of fabric from the top of piece #2 in my lovely illustration which in turn made piece #3.

5. I wrapped piece #3 around my waist, pinned it in place, cut off the excess and sewed it to fit. I didn't want any puckering in the waist band, I wanted it to lay nice and flat so I made sure it was the same diameter as piece #1. Then, with right sides together I sewed the waist band(#3) to the top piece (#1).

6. All I had left to do was attach the skirt (#2). I cut a few more inches off the top of piece #2 so the hem would fall just below my knee. I also wanted a fuller skirt so I did a little runching here too. Once again, I did a baste stitch around the top of the skirt piece and pulled the loose thread ends to pucker the fabric. Once it was runched to my liking and roughly the same diameter as the waist band, I sewed them right sides together (of course.) I only had a few inches of scrap fabric left over which I used to make some fabric flowers for the waist band. Here is a close up so you can see how the three pieces (top, waist band and skirt) are sewn together.

And there you have it. A brand new dress! (sort of.) I hope someone finds this post useful because it took a really long time to write. I'm off to bed. Happy renewaling!

Urban Renewal

I recently read a really cool blog post about a girl who takes over-sized t-shirts and turns them into cute little outfits. (Her name is Mari Santos and she showcases her creations on a web-site called Urban Renewal, in case you are interested.) On a recent trip to the thrift store, I decided I wanted to try a little Urban Renewal of my own. I bought an an over-sized dress for $3.00 and spent about 1 1/2 hours making it into something worth wearing. I am thrilled with the results!

This is soooo much easier and so much cheaper than trying to make a dress from scratch. I have two other thrift store dresses waiting in the wings and I can't wait to get my hands on some old t-shirts. This is going to be fun.

Sewing on Cards

Even though I don't necessarily intend to, all my cards end up looking very similar, with some type of flower and/or stitching detail. However, I think these ones turned out especially cute.

Spool

I'm thinking I wouldn't mind making this lovely little bird mobile I found on Spool. (A great sewing blog I just discovered and is definitely worth checking out.) You can download a free pattern for the mobile here. They also have an on-line shop full of lots of pretty fabric and patterns.

You Had Me at Grosgrain

No, really. I recently stumbled across this great sewing blog that I feel is pass-along worthy: Grosgrain Fabulous. Love the name, love all of her cute creations, love the entire vibe of her blog. Here is just a sampling, go check it out for yourself!
(All images via Grosgrain.)

And This Little Piggy Cried...

oh my goodness! These onesies Marci made are so stinkin' adorable!


Note: Add this to my growing list of projects I'd like to get to at some point or another.

Birdie Sling

I really want to make this bag by Amy Butler.

Because Everyday's A Party

I have seen this type of fabric bunting on various internet sites and even in a few magazines lately. It looked so fun and festive I decided to make some myself. I think it will be nice to have on hand for future birthday parties and other festive gatherings. (We are actually having a small get-together at our house this weekend so that is the primary reason it is hanging up.) However, all festivities aside, I am enjoying just looking at it on a normal day. I might put it in the boy's room as a permanent decoration, or heck, I like it so much, I might just put it in my room!

(For those of you who are interested, the flags are made of quilter's cotton and measure nine inches at the base and nine inches tall, measuring from the center of the base to the point. I made them double-sided and then sandwiched them between quilt binding to make the garland.)

I Sew!

My secret? I just let the sewing machine do all the work. Seriously, I have been wanting to learn how to sew an article of clothing for awhile and I finally did. To my surprise I made a shirt that actually fits! My 7th grade Home Ec teacher would be so proud. I think my relationship with my sewing machine just got a lot more serious.

(For those of you who are interested, I used a really easy Built by Wendy Simplicity pattern: #3835. I used fabric I bought on clearance at JoAnns and I made the flower embellishments out of left over scraps to make the shirt look a little more Anthropologie-esque.)

Sweater Makeover

I couldn't resist posting this because it involves a fabric flower embellishment. Click here for instructions on how to make an old sweater look like this:

I think this just might take my thrift store shopping to a whole new level.

As seen on Oh Happy Day.

Burp Cloths

With all the cruddy weather we've had, I've been able to hole up inside and work on a few sewing projects. I just finished making a couple burp cloths for a gal I used to work with who recently had a baby girl named Elizabeth. I had the embroidery done at a little shop close to my house because I fear that if I owned a machine, everything in my house would be monogramed, including my own body.

Ruffle Rac by Michael Miller

Ruffle ric rac.
I think this just made my day.

A Note on Fabric Flowers

I love fabric flowers. I think they add a bit of girly spunk to any ordinary outfit. I like them so much that I even had one on my wedding dress. I think I would like to have flowers of all sorts so I could wear one all the time. Click here to make your own fabric flower like the one pictured above. (I just made mine with fabric scraps and a white button.) If you want something even easier, just buy a silk flower at any craft store and hot glue a pin onto the back. Wa-lah!
I also like the flowers seen here and here. (I think I'll make a flower belt like this.)